A unique collection of original sketches by L S Lowry left in a cupboard known as ‘the black hole’ because the owner’s wife deemed them unsightly will be a highlight at The Chester Antiques Show this week.

The collection, which belonged to a family from Cheshire, was taken by the owner to TV’s Antiques Roadshow and will feature on the stand of Welshpool art specialists Rowles Fine Art, regular exhibitors at the Chester show.

The distinctive Lowry drawings, featuring his busy figures and local buildings and landmarks around Salford and Manchester, date from the 1920s to 1960s.

Frankie Rowles, of Rowles Fine Art, said: “This collection is one of the most fabulous things we have had the privilege to sell.”

Ten from the collection will be on sale at the fair ranging in price from £15,000 to £49,500.

Lowry drawings will be the highlight of the Chester Antiques Show at Chester Racecourse from October 22-25
Lowry drawings will be the highlight of the Chester Antiques Show at Chester Racecourse from October 22-25

Antiques Roadshow picture specialist Rupert Maas told the owner on the show: “People did say that above all Lowry was a humanist, he loved the drifting life though the streets. He would sit down and try and sketch it as often and as quickly as he possibly could so he could catch that feeling of transient life and the effervescence on the streets of Manchester.”

On the programme, the owner revealed how some of the items collected by her father had been slightly damaged because he used to bring them home on his motorbike.

The Chester Antiques Show features 50 exhibitors from across the UK. The exhibits for sale range from Art Deco lighting to ornate Victorian mirrors, British and Continental clocks, fine English furniture, 19th century landscape watercolours to exotic French bronze statues and contemporary paintings and sculpture.

In addition to the collection of Lowry drawings, other galleries will be showing a range of works, including Victorian Welsh landscape paintings and a colourful pen and watercolour work by the contemporary artist Angel Dominquez inspired by the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds which was done for a Beatles project that was never completed.

It is a large work, measuring 33 x 26ins and will be on sale from Art of the Imagination, priced at £3,000.

Organiser Caroline Penman said: “We’re well known for offering fine quality pieces with appeal to serious and discerning collectors, and anyone looking to add furnishing pieces to their homes.”

The Chester Antiques Show is at the County Grandstand, Chester Racecourse, from October 22-25.